Page:An Epistle to Posterity.djvu/172

 hero of the canal and sponsor for Ismailia. Sir William managed it that we should see some of the festivals in his honor. London depends on the opening of a single door, and more than one such admirable friend opened the door for us. Where everybody is kindly disposed, your heart must be a bitter one if you are not pleased.

General Badeau had been in London long enough to realize our unexpected good fortune and to congratulate us on it. Mr. Motley Was, I fear, secretly pleased that we did not demand anything of him, the more so as he had just had bad luck at Vienna and some troublesome experiences in London. He was one of the most beautiful of men, as well as one of the simplest, most agreeable, and most attractive. I had never seen him in America. I am glad to think that I saw him where he was so honored, and where he so honored America.

Dean Stanley took us through Westminster Abbey with one of his smaller parties, and threw the illumination of his knowledge into the dark corners.

The promptitude of English hospitality rather alarmed us. Sir John Bowring had told the Bishop of Rochester that we had letters to him from Bishop Potter, and he immediately asked us to his house for three days! Bishop Jacobson, of Chester, wrote three letters of introduction for us while we stood in the library of the Athenæum, which were of great service to us at Oxford and at York Minster and at Canterbury, and indeed everywhere else.

And so we were passed along. One of our most enjoyable visits was to Sir Harry and Lady Verney at their noble old house at Claydon. Lady Verney, a sister of Florence Nightingale, was an author, a botanist, a very charming woman, and a good artist. She had diligently compiled all the history of the Verney family, and we saw some rare family portraits — one of Sir